1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to vehicles, and in particular to a rider-powered vehicle and mechanism thereof.
2. Description of Prior Art
There are few human activities more universal than riding a bicycle. Bicycles are used around the world for transportation, exercise and as a fun and exhilarating activity. Indeed, riding a bicycle is something that millions of people around the world engage in every single day, and the vast majority of those people take it completely for granted.
The biking world currently spends millions of dollars each year trying to make a regular bicycle go faster with new designs. In the last few hundred years, the basic bicycle design has not changed either. With two pedals and corresponding crank arms, a chain and various other parts, the rider applies the pedals in a circular motion and propels the bicycle forward. It is simple, easy and almost universal.
Unfortunately, this design is also inherently wasteful and dangerous. Hundreds of thousands of riders around the globe have been injured and even killed when their bicycle failed due to the enormous amount of stress put on the bicycle's frame, especially the front forks.
The reason is simple. The traditional bicycle design forces the rider to use a jerking motion from side-to-side when riding, and also puts intense downward forces on the center of the frame. This force is also unevenly distributed, transferring tremendous forces to the front forks as well which, unfortunately, have a tendency to fail, causing horrific accidents.
One only has to perform a quick online search to find references to a multitude of lawsuits brought against bicycle manufacturers, usually by riders who were injured while riding a bicycle whose frame failed. Examples abound, including an employee of the outdoor products company who was paralyzed after the bicycle he was riding broke apart because its frame was unable to withstand the normal forces exerted from riding. Others include one of the most respected bicycle companies in the industry, which was recently forced to recall over 1 million of their bicycles, and another bicycle company which recalled hundreds of their bikes after realizing that the frame could break apart under normal riding conditions.
Also, conventional bicycles in the prior art typically involve a rider applying forces from their legs to pedals which revolve 360 degrees around an axis, which transfers the rotational motion to rotate a wheel axle using a gear and chain assembly. Thus, the rider is forced to use six or more leg muscles if he wants to propel the conventional bicycle forward. He or she must use the hip extensor, knee extensors, ankle planter flexors, ankle dorsiflexors, hip flexors and the knee flexors. Excessive use of these muscles overtime may cause damages to the knees and other parts of the body.
FIG. 1 is a diagram 10 representing muscles of human legs active during rotational action on a pedal in the prior art, in which the various extensors and flexors in the leg are utilized during certain angular ranges of the revolving pedal. FIG. 2 is a representation of a side view of muscles in a human leg in the prior art, and FIG. 3 is a representation of a front view of muscles in the thigh of a human leg in the prior art.
As shown in FIGS. 1-3, hip extensor muscles 12 primarily apply force to the pedal clockwise in a range 32 from the 12 o'clock position to the 3 o'clock position, while knee extensor muscles 14 primarily apply force to the pedal clockwise in a range 34 from the 3 o'clock position to the 5 o'clock position, ankle plantar flexor muscles 16 primarily apply force to the pedal clockwise in a range 36 from the 5 o'clock position to the 6 o'clock position, the ankle dorsiflexor muscles 18 primarily apply force to the pedal clockwise in a range 38 from the 6 o'clock position to the 8 o'clock position, the knee flexor muscles 20 primarily apply force to the pedal clockwise in a range 40 from the 8 o'clock position to the 9 o'clock position, and the hip flexor muscles 22 primarily apply force to the pedal clockwise in a range 42 from the 9 o'clock position to the 12 o'clock position.
However, most of the power applied to the pedal is only most efficiently applied in a limited range of angular orientations, i.e., between approximately 2 and 4 o'clock, with much of the motion of the pedal and the legs of the rider being wasted or inefficiently utilized.
The fact is that the traditional bicycle design is inherently wasteful as far a rider energy is concerned. Much of the force a rider applies is lost as it is transferred to other parts of the bicycle rather than the wheels. In fact, for years bicycle designers have been doing their absolute best to get more power, and higher RPMs, out of the traditional bike design, but to no avail. Most designs are currently stuck at about 100 RPMs, with the absolute limit at 120. Thus, their charts display only up to 120 RPMs.
In addition, such conventional bicycles in the prior art are typically constructed for riders using two legs, which is not readily adaptable to people with only one leg, no legs, prosthesis, etc. One of the biggest problems with traditional bicycle design—the inability to ride if you're disabled. A paraplegic, a soldier missing one or both legs or someone suffering from a debilitating muscular disease that affects their arms and legs simply cannot ride a bicycle, much as they might want to do so and enjoy this fantastic, fun and energizing activity.
The conventional bicycle has one chain, a front sprocket (chain-ring) and a rear cog (multi-sprocket). This system has several limitations. If the rider desires to have different speeds on the bicycle he must be able to change gears with a derailleur. The bicycle chain must be thin enough to switch gears in the rear of the cog. This puts further limitations on the size of the chain and the size of the rear cog. In order to go faster a rider must switch to the smallest sprocket in the rear of the bicycle. This restricts the size of the chain and the sprocket and how the chain is aligned to the rear cog. Thus, in the conventional bicycle, the smaller the sprocket, the less chain is available to grab the sprocket in order to propel the bicycle forward. This also causes the chain to be misaligned with the rear cog. Since the rear sprocket is small this limits the number of teeth in order to grab the chain. A jumping of the chain may occur and the chain may wear and tear at the sprocket. Either the chain will snap or sprocket teeth will bend or break after a heavy load.